Blackout by Mira Grant is the third book in her trilogy about zombies and the dystopian future. The first two books, Feed and Deadline, explore a Presidential campaign and a government conspiracy.Continue reading →

Doomed by Chuck Palahniuk is the second book in a trilogy. Damned being the first; it’s about a young girl (whose parents are celebrities) who dies and is sent to hell. Doomed is about the same girl living in purgatory on earth. The third and final book is yet to be released. The books are composed of chapter long tweets, with Madison appealing to Dr. Maya Angelou whenever she needs strength: “Please, Dr. Maya, give me the strenth to not use an emoticon.” (Palahniuk, 29)

A Naked Singularity tricked me. I don’t mean the author, Sergio de la Pava, tricked me. Nor do I mean, Casi, public defender, narrator, tricked me. No, the book itself tricked me. I saw its spine, psychedelic with white and black and fuschia design and lettering. It called to me to pick it up. I did. I read the back and thought, sounds ok. But maybe I just want to read it because the cover is beautiful. I put it down. I would not pick up a 678 page book for $18 by an author I never heard of because it was pretty. I am not that easily seduced. I walked away. But later I wondered about the book. Did I use the book’s length as an excuse? Was I lazy? Was I not giving a new author a chance? I picked up the book at another bookstore and pondered it again. No, still not what I wanted. I thought about it so more. Did I pick it up the second time because it was so pretty? So I looked at it a third time at the first bookstore. This time I reread the blurb and decided it was for me.

Hermione became jealous of this book and all the time I spent with it. This is the only book he has ever chewed on and ripped.

The chapter about the alternate reality of Andy Warhol’s Factory. Lots and lots of notes.

Writing my masters thesis was one of the most exciting periods of my life. Initially I wanted to write on James Joyce’s Ullyses (but who hasn’t?) or Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita or Pale Fire (again, who hasn’t?). Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer? Then I moved to more contemporary writers. What about Don DeLillo’s White Noise? Maybe Zadie Smith? I know, Salman Rushdie! But not The Satanic Verses. Everyone and their mother has written about The Satanic Verses.

The Book Borrowers Council (BBC) advocates and initiates safe environments for books to be borrowed and lent. The Council encourages reading and respect for the printed art form. There is a secret labyrinthian library for those deemed worthy. In it coffee is constantly brewed, plush chairs abound, there are views from every window, bookshelves nine feet high that never topple every book you will ever want to read in alphabetical order is arranged by genre by the gentle ghost of Kafka’s cockroach. Unfortunately, the BBC knows nothing of this place.